The late Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ sixth Yahrzeit occurred two weeks ago on 20 Cheshvan (October 31 in the general calendar). We referred in last week’s update to a specific observation by Rabbi Sacks about the importance of safeguarding truth. We did not, however, point out the proximity on the calendar to the Yahrzeit and the importance of recalling the vast and occasionally transformative learning that Rabbi Sacks shared with us and with the world.
We shall do so in this update.
In one of his commentaries on the parsha, Pinchas, Rabbi Sacks wrote that “the two great roles in Jewish continuity – horim and morim – parents and teachers.” Thus, in his typically tight, economic use of language, Rabbi Sacks encapsulated the foundational truth of Jewish civilization: the primary “instruments” of preserving, enhancing, conveying and protecting it are our society’s chief instructors and eternal exemplars – our parents and our teachers.
“Everyone has a share in Torah,” Rabbi Sacks wrote. “It is the shared patrimony of every Jew.”
In and of themselves alone, these words were revolutionary. For, in most societies and cultures contemporaneous to the time of Moses and subsequently, in some places, even to this day, education was the zealously guarded domain of the privileged, powerful few. Jewish society stood squarely in opposition to this model. Judaism made education the domain of each of its members – throughout time.
Rabbi Sacks reminded us that we are the inheritors of our ancestors’ obsessive reverence for learning, study, and the transmission of values. “From earliest times to today”, he wrote, “the Jewish people have predominantly been communities built around schools, sustained by communal funds so that none should be excluded.”
“The Sages drew a strong connection between home and school, parent and teacher…Education is a conversation across the generations, between parent and child…Educational leadership is not the prerogative of an elite. … It is open to each of us, if we will it and give it our best efforts of energy and time.”
Time and again, whenever the opportunity arose, Rabbi Sacks emphasized:
• the perpetuity of Jewish civilization and Jewish life depend upon education.
• education depends upon the relationship between parent and teacher and
• no-one should be excluded.
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The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether GAJE’s application for fairness in educational funding in Ontario can proceed. When it finally decides, we will publish the court’s decision at our first opportunity.
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If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit to achieve fairness in educational funding, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com Thank you, in advance, for considering doing so.
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Shabbat shalom
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education
November 13, 2026
